Technology Info

This GPRS tutorial is split into several pages each of which address different aspects of the GPRS technology:

[1] GPRS technology tutorial

[2] GPRS network architecture

[3] GPRS mobiles and multislot classes

[4] GPRS radio air interface

[5] GPRS error coding

[6] GPRS channels

[7] GPRS operation

With GPRS providing a move from circuit switched technology to packet switched technology, it was necessary to upgrade the network architecture to accommodate this. To accommodate this the GPRS network architecture added new elements including the GGSN and SGSN to the existing GSM network to be able to accommodate this.

However it was still necessary for the GPRS network elements and those from the existing GSM elements to work along side one another. Accordingly the introduction of GPRS technology saw the addition of some new entities within the over network architecture.